Robbing the Cradle
by Nukumi
Summary: Oneshot.Because she just couldn't help but feel affection for her little taichou.


**Robbing the Cradle**

_Seventy-two flash steps until we reach Division 4 headquarters. Sixty-eight. Fifty-five. Fifty. Fourty-Ow!_

Rangiku Matsumoto brought her gaze downward from the goal ahead to the small body cradled in her arms. It had been slack for the past ten minutes, but she now saw that the arms were flailing and there was a distinct, sharp pain on the underside of one of her bosom. Maintaining her hold on the body in her arms, she held it a little ways out from her chest as she countinued her flash steps. Her curious, cornflower blue eyes met with pissed-off green ones accompanied by cherry red cheeks.

"Matsumoto!"

She flinched. Why is it that it seemed the only time he used her name was when he was mad at her?

"Yes, Hitsugaya-taichou?"

The white-haired prodigy's eyebrow twitched at the strawberry blonde's feigned innocent tone.

"Why are you carrying me?"

She smiled at him as she often did when she found herself in trouble. Or flirting. Often both.

"Well, after you finished off that last Arrancar and your bankai wore off, you kind of fainted. I'm taking you to the infirmary."

_Thirty-one steps._

"And you felt the need to suffocate me before we got there?"

Matsumoto cringed, but her smile stayed plastered. He really must be exhausted if he was being cranky and sarcastic with her.

"No, taichou! I just thought you'd be more comfortable being held somewhere soft."

He glared at her, refusing to dignify the assumption that he'd like to bury his face in her chest with a comment. She fake-pouted.

"You didn't have to bite me, you know."

"Matsumoto,"

This time, she could clearly hear the fatigue ringing in his voice, and it was devoid of anger.

_Twenty-five steps._

"next time, carry me on your back."

_Twenty-three steps._

"Yes, taichou."

As they reached 4th division HQ at last, Hitsugaya insisted he be put down. Matsumoto wouldn't hear of it, and carried him straight to Kotetsu-fukutaichou. The grey haired woman quickly prepared a bed for the genius, and decided that a few days of good sleep was the only remedy needed. It was Matsumoto who thanked her for finding a room for him so fast, because Hitsugaya was knocked out as soon as his body touched the bed. Loyal to a fault, she found herself a chair in the room and pulled it up next to the bed, preparing to settle in and get comfortable. The steady decline in the room temperature was enough for Matsumoto to know that Hitsugaya was comfortable. Most likely, it was due to Hyourinmaru; whenever Matsumoto found herself keeping watch over a sleeping Hitsugaya, the area was always chilly. It never ceased to amaze her how fitting his looks were to his element. Stark white hair...it was really no surprise why Hinamori called him Shiro-chan. Matsumoto never had the chance to even call him by his first name.

_Oh! Hinamori!_

The busty shinigami had temporarily forgotten all about her taichou's childhood friend. She felt a slight pang of guilt, watching Hitsugaya's still form and knowing that Hinamori would probably want to know that he was here in the infirmary, but she pushed that feeling aside. Knowing her taichou, he would jump up at dawn, claiming to be well rested, and slip out at first chance. Why call Hinamori for such a short period of time? Besides, Hinamori already spent _so_ much time with Hitsugaya-taichou, couldn't she just have this one night alone with him? Whenever she and Hitsugaya were together, it was strictly shinigami business-related. She never saw him outside of 'work', was it such a crime for her to be selfish this night? Matsumoto's hand inadvertantly found itself combing through his tousled locks, and she wondered briefly about all the possible outcomes that may occur if she kissed his cheek at this moment.

_Nah. It'd be wrong._

For all her taichou's maturity and all the thinly veiled sexual references Matsumoto made, Hitsugaya-taichou still had not picked up on her continued passes at him. She could slam her boobs in his face and extend as many invitations as she wanted, and he was never the wiser. It seemed he was a bit naieve, which made her feel all the more guilty for putting the moves on a man with the stature of a thirteen year old. She couldn't help it, he had the whole "intelligent and aloof" thing going on that attracted Matsumoto like a moth to a flame. Perhaps it was just as well, no good could come of a fukutaichou throwing herself at her taichou. And what good were those efforts when he focused his attention exclusively on work and Hinamori?

_Come to think of it, are taichou and Hinamori really just friends or more? It's hard to tell..._

Her hand abruptly stopped its ministrations and retreated back to her side.There was no use brooding over answers she didn't have. The only way to know for sure would be to either ask Hinamori, who she didn't know well enough to ask such a thing, or to ask Hitsugaya-taichou, who certainly wouldn't answer such a question. Maybe keeping things they way they were wasn't so bad. If she never brought up the topic, she would never get her heart broken, and she could continue to love him from a distance, yet at his side. No emotional mess. But still...how many years of this would she be able to take? How many years of not knowing if she stood a chance with him or not? With these sentiments, the buxom woman drifted off to sleep, slumped back in the chair.

* * *

"Matsumoto." 

"Matsumoto."

_Hn?_

"Matsumoto."

_What?_

"Matsumoto!"

She awoke slowly, her vision taking a minute to clear and her body using the minute to scream discomfort. Maybe she should have slept on the floor instead of the chair. Or at the foot of his bed like the faithful yet unnoticed creature she felt she was. It was after this minute awaking that she noted the stern look on her taichou's face, directed at her.

"If you're going to have naughty dreams, you should at least have them more quietly."

_Uh-oh. So that's what the look's for._

She smiled sheepishly as she streched her limbs and desperately hoped she at least hadn't yelled any names in her sleep.

"Feeling all better, taichou?"

He yawned and moved from sitting up in the middle of the bed to swinging his legs over the edge and throwing the covers back. Still as fully clothed as when she had brought him in, he stood from the bed and retrieved his zanpakutou from the nightstand.

"Hm. Some."

_I could make you feel MUCH better._

"Good! So, shall we go straight to the office then, and I'll go grab us some breakfast and tea?"

Matsumoto really, really hated doing office work, but she was much more disinclined to get on Hitsugaya-taichou's nerves today. Especially when it seemed that she had already broken his sleep. She stood up and began making her way towards the door.

"Yeah."

His eyes were half lidded, and she wondered just how much _rest_ he had actually gotten out of his sleep. It made her sad to see him at less than full power, but she had long ago taken it upon herself to be the ray of sunshine in his day. As such, Matsumoto decided that maybe a little annoyance was needed to bring some life into his features. She stopped short of her exit from the room, and instead stood directly in front of him. Without warning, she threw her arms around him, engulfing him in a mammory-loaded bear hug.

"Allright then, Hitsugaya-taichou! I'll meet you there in a minute!"

"Ymphmm hmm."

"What was that, taichou?"

The small shinigami wiggled out of her grasp and took a half step to the side.

"You're smothering me."

"Oh, was I? I just thought you'd like a few more seconds of pillow-like softeness."

"And Matsumoto,"

"Hmph?"

She was already walking again, hips swaying and hair bouncing lightly as she moved towards the door, when she felt a pinch on her bottom. She nearly yelped from surprised and turned halfway towards her taichou.

"If you're going to scream my name in the middle of the night, make sure it's 'Hitsugaya-taichou', not 'Hitsugaya-kun'."

Shock, embarassment and excitement all battled for dominance in her at that moment, and her face took on a slight pink tinge.

_Stupid dream! That stupid dream! I -- wait, is he _leering _at me?!_

And the small, almost unnoticable smile on Hitsugaya's face widened.


End file.
